Blog Posts

We wanted to let you know we ran a very successful vSphere SDK lab at [Partner Exchange / Tech Exchange a few weeks ago in Orlando. For those of you who missed the event, I'm posting the manuals and code files. Going through the lab is a great way to get started with the API and includes handy sample code for modification or inclusion in your own programs.

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The lab covers both the Java and C# versions of the VI SDK and uses the vSphere Web Services SDK 4.0 (formerly VI SDK 4.0). Though the lab doesn't cover any vSphere-specific features, I haven't tested it with VI SDK 2.5 and it will probably require some minor modification. For scripters that would prefer an introduction to the vSphere Perl SDK (formerly the VI Perl Toolkit) or the vSphere PowerCLI (formerly VI Toolkit for Windows), I posted a similar lab for those in an earlier blog post.

Exercises cover all the basics for using the SDK:
* Understanding managed objects and data objects
* Connecting to the VI API webservice
* getting the properties of managed objects using the PropertyCollector
* Using the SearchIndex
* Finding objects using TraversalSpecs
* Finding objects based on arbitrary criteria
* Collecting properties of multiple objects at the same time
* Understanding performance differences in some basic property collection strategies
* Monitoring properties for changes
* Monitoring tasks for completion
* Gathering performance statistics

There's obviously a lot more to do in the SDK, but once you've mastered those basic skills, most of the rest of the SDK is just an extension of what you already know. The exercises on collecting multiple objects properties at the same time and understanding performance differences due to property collector strategies cover some common problems I see with the management ecosystem partners I handle and are a great review for anyone trying to make sure their SDK code scales well.

A few things to note: I didn't update the doc with the new names of the various API components... I wrote the lab while those names were still under development. Also, I want to thank the other folks who helped put this lab together: Balaji Parimi (who wrote the Java code), Rajesh Kamal (who wrote the C# code), Alton Yu, John Kennedy, Paul Vasquez, and Steve Jin.

While most of the code handles errors gracefully and follows best practices, I’d like to point out that the code here is designed to teach concepts, not to be “enterprise ready”.

Folks, we are going to be moving over to a new platform in the next few days.

Please bookmark

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Folks,

We have put together a survey to help us understand what your needs are from a vSphere Management perspective. The survey is targeted at folks that manage and write management applications for vSphere, VI 3.x environments.

Please take our survey - click here

The goal of this survey is to better understand which applications (commercial or in-house developed) you use or develop to manage the VMware vSphere Platform. We need your feedback as it will help us understand which 3rd party vendors or tools VMware needs to focus on.

This survey should take approximately 22 minutes to complete.

We will be awarding great prizes to lucky winners.

Grand Prize - 1 Full Conference Pass to VMworld San Francisco 2009
First Prize is - 1 iPod Touch 8GB

Winners will be chosen in a random drawing

Please review the contest rules, terms, and conditions below.

Contest Information and Rules

o Survey Starts: June 17, 2009 11:59 PM PST
o Closes: Monday August 3rd, 2009 10:00 PM CST
o Winners will be announced on the Developer Center Blog: Friday August 7th 2009
o VMware employees are excluded from entering
o One entry per person
o Raffle participants must fully complete survey
o Winners will be chosen at random by VMware
o You must provide a valid corporate email address - no personal email addresses please
o This contest is for VMware customers, there is no purchase necessary to participate
o Terms and Conditions

(image borrowed from http://www.fiveruns.com/images/developers.png?1234384652)

Folks,

Thought it would be good to highlight some sessions that might be of interest to our TAP partners building performance monitoring applications...

Preetham will provide an introduction and update on what is new and exciting with our SDK and APIs.
Session Title: SDKs and APIs - Tools for Successful Integration with the Next Generation of VMware Infrastructure
ID: VI-02 (1hr)

Our experts from Co Dev team will be providing some lessons learned and best practices...
Session Title: VI SDK Usage Best Practices and Upcoming Features
ID: VI-05 (1hr)

This is the first time Kit will be presenting to our TAP partners and should be a sell out,, register early
Session Title: Understanding "Host" and "Guest" Memory Usage and Other VI Memory Statistics
ID: VI-06

Ravi and Preetham will be providing a deeper dive into our monitoring APIs
**Session Title:**Application Performance Monitoring through VI APIs
ID: VI-03 (1hr)

This will be an awesome Lab !
Lab Title: VI SDK Programming: Automating, Integrating, and Extending the VDC-OS
ID: HOLSDK (2hr 15min)Hands On Lab

There are plenty of more sessions - please take a look Complete Agenda

Registration and more Event Info

Folks,

Just wanted to let you know that we have added VProbes into our Developer Community. There is a lot of exciting performance monitoring development happening in this area and think the good folks from R&D would be excited to hear about your experiences with the APIs. If you want to learn more about VProbes check out Keith's blog.

http://x86vmm.blogspot.com

Be the first to post on the community ! http://communities.vmware.com/community/developer/vprobes

-Pablo

ps. In case you are wondering about the aquarium photo. Image above is the #1 2008 World Ranking Winner - Photo borrowed from my favorite aquarium store in SF http://www.adana-usa.com/

December 31st 2008 article from NetworkWorld / NY Times recommends our VMware Developer websites as the # 3 Website IT Pros should master...

"..... To get the best real-world feedback on how best to deploy VMware, keep your eyes on the VMware Communities Web site. It’s got user groups in your community and lots of tips from other VMware developers that can help you solve problems faster..."

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/external/idg/2008/12/31/31idg-Nine-Web-sites.html?em

Network World: http://www.nytimes.com/external/idg/2008/12/31/31idg-Nine-Web-sites.html?em

Big Thanks to our VMware community of developers for your contributions !!

Pablo Roesch
VI SDK Product Marketing
http://vmware.com/developer

Welcome to the VMware Developer Center Blog

Atami Beach, San Salvador

Hello,

Welcome the VMware Developer Center Blog. My name is Pablo Roesch and I am the Product Marketing Manager for the VMware Infrastructure SDKs. My job at VMware is to help empower developers, IT administrators when integrating, and automating with our SDKs.

Before VMware I worked for Sun Microsystems in various roles, most recently responsible for building out the Developer Services Portfolio for the Sun Developer Network. On the personal side I have lived in San Francisco most of my life, and enjoy spending time with my wife and kids. Just in case you are ever in this fine city I would recommend the Slanted Door for dinner and CafeGreco for an after dinner Cappuccino. As a side note I have included a photo of my all time favorite beach in San Salvador which helps me put things into perspective.

It is an exciting time for us at VMware as our SDKs are going through a much needed evolution with recent release of the VI Perl Toolkit 1.5 and upcoming sneak peak of the VI Toolkit for Windows (manage VI using Powershell)

I often get asked what the difference is between the VMware Developer Center and the Developer Community so thought I would bring this up front.

The VMware Developer Center provides information on latest SDK product downloads, knowledge base articles, webinars, questions and answers as expressed by VMware. The Developer Community is how the community interacts with VMware. The VMware Community is where developers, scripters post questions about our SDKs, provide sample code for community use, and comments on our products.

Visit our VMware Developer Center http://vmware.com/developer as we have recently made some much needed improvements to hope you find them helpful.

Navigation: Created a new navigational bar on right hand side, which will help with navigation of our site.

Knowledge Base Articles: Growing list of KB articles, to see current list click here

SDK Questions and Answers: Adding list of frequently asked questions

New webinars and sessions: New sessions posted range Product information to VMworld Sessions.

VMware Sample Code: Ongoing effort to increase our code sample library as requested by our users. Comment or suggestion for Sample Code? Please let us know by answering this quick questionnaire.

We look forward to continuing improvements to our site, please keep the feedback coming !

Pablo Roesch - VMware SDK Product Marketing Manager

Visit the VMware Developer Center: http://vmware.com/developer Latest Downloads, Code Samples, Knowledge Base Articles